Content providers and advertisers often use demographic information to better target their content and advertisements. Better targeting of content and advertisements reduces the likelihood that the content or advertisement will be ignored by users.
One way content providers and advertisers collect demographic information online is through user registration. When registering with a website, users may be asked questions about their demographic information. Websites can use the users' responses to better target their content and/or advertisements. However, many users view website registrations as inconvenient and intrusive of their privacy. Thus, many users provide false information when questioned during registration about their demographic information. Furthermore, even if a user provides correct information, the information can become outdated.
Content providers and advertisers can also collect demographic information through surveys. However, surveys also suffer similar shortcomings as user registration; users can provide false information on the surveys and the information can become outdated. Furthermore, users can and often do ignore the surveys.